BMW expands air-bag recall to 1.6m more cars

In the latest recall, about 574,000 of the cars were sold in the United States, 450,000 in Germany and 189,000 in the United Kingdom. Last year, BMW recalled 42,000 cars in the United States for this issue.
Photo: Reuters

by
Ben Klayman

German auto maker BMW said it is recalling about 1.6 million cars worldwide to replace passenger-side front air bags made by Takata because the inflators could break apart during deployment and injure passengers.

The recall affects 3 Series vehicles produced between May 1999 and August 2006.

BMW said it is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issue. Previously recalled cars are not part of this campaign.

In the latest recall, about 574,000 of the cars were sold in the United States, 450,000 in Germany and 189,000 in the United Kingdom. Last year, BMW recalled 42,000 cars in the United States for this issue.

In addition, BMW said it has also recalled 26 Mini cars and one BMW i3 from model year 2014 to replace Takata passenger-side air bags. These are not part of the larger recall.

While BMW is still taking part in a regional recall requested by US safety regulators, BMW spokesman Dave Buchko said it decided to recall all of the model year 2000 through 2006 cars potentially affected by the issue. The regional recall requested in June by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covered both passenger- and driver-side front air bags.

The recall is an extension of last year's recall of 240,000 cars globally for the same issue. However, it overlaps with the regional recall.

"As a precaution, we just feel now that the right thing to do is just to bring them all in and replace the passenger-side air bag," Buchko said.